Page 66 of Wicked Knight

I make it to my apartment, shower and change for bed, and as I lie down and rest my head on the pillow, Dmitri floats back into my mind.

I close my eyes and try to pick away all the bad parts of my memories so I can rest. As soon as I do, I drift away into a deep slumber, but then darkness wraps around me like a smothering blanket.

It’s thick and endless and heavy, pressing down on my chest, and the silence around me is alive, pulsing in my ears like a warning.

I’m back there again.

Back in the nightmare. In the land of nowhere and everywhere.

I’m so familiar with this place I welcome the choking terror. And I know what comes next.

A shard of light splits the darkness in two and fractures my surroundings, pulling me along with it.

“I see you.”That haunting voice taunts my mind.“Come here to me.”

My heart hammers in my chest, and I run. I want to scream, but the sound dies in my throat, swallowed whole by the oppressive fear draining the life from me.

Another flash, brighter this time. Shadows and light ripple around me.

“I see you.”That haunting voice returns.

Suddenly, pain lances through my body, raw and unrelenting, but I can’t remember why or how I got hurt.

I try to move, but I’m paralyzed, trapped in this fractured moment. The flashes come faster now, like a strobe light, disorienting and cruel.

Then I’m falling into nothing. My body shakes, my insides quiver, my soul screams.

“I see you.”

I land into darkness darker than ever, and I’m broken.

Then a face appears. It’s vague, out of focus, but still somehow terrifying.

It’s a man. But I’ve never seen him here before.

His features blend with the haze, and his hollow eyes glare at me.

There’s nothing in them. Nothing human.

He rushes up to me, getting ready to kill me.

I scream and jump out of my sleep into the dim light of my room.

My chest is heaving, and I’m gasping for breath. Frantically, I look around, searching for him. The face.The man.

It’s not until my breathing stills that I manage to calm myself, reassured that I’m safe and no one is coming after me.

Then I realize something. I realize what just happened in my nightmare, what I just saw.

My nightmares have never shown me that face before.

That man.

Oh my God…

Am I starting to remember?

Chapter Fourteen